Downtown Line
The Downtown Line (DTL) is the fifth (Mass Rapid Transit) MRT lines in Singapore. It opened on 22 December 2013 for Stage 1, and due to be opened in 2016 and 2017 for Stage 2 and 3 respectively. When fully completed, the line will be about 42 km (26 mi) long with 34 stations and will serve about half a million commuters daily, making it the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore. Travelling from one end to the other will take about 65 minutes. The line is coloured blue in the rail map. It is maintained by SBS Transit . Overview The line will connect the North-Western and Central-Eastern regions to the new downtown of Singapore. Transfers to this line from the North East Line will be available at Chinatown and Little India, the North South Line at Newton, the East West Line at Bugis, Tampines and Expo, the Circle Line at MacPherson, Bayfront, Promenade and Botanic Gardens and Bukit Panjang LRT at Bukit Panjang. This line is the third in Singapore to be entirely underground (apart from the Gali Batu Depot). Once fully completed, this line will also be the longest automated rapid transit line, surpassing the record set by the Circle Line . History On 14 June 2005, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that it would construct the (then known as) Downtown Extension of the Circle Line , to serve the Downtown at Marina Bay (DTMB) area, where an integrated resort (Marina Bay Sands) and Singapore's second botanical garden (Gardens by the Bay) will be located. The 3.4-kilometre fully underground line was estimated to cost S$1.4 billion. Construction of the extension was slated to begin in 2007. Bayfront and Marina Bay stations effectively opened on 14 January 2012. On 27 April 2007, it was announced that Stage 1 of the line will connect Promenade with Bugis. As such, the former Downtown Extension of the Circle Line became known as the Downtown Line Stage 1, a 4.3 km 6 station segment running fully underground from Chinatown on the North East Line to Bugis on the East West Line , due to be operational in 2013, a year later than originally planned. Three new stations will be constructed underground, linking Bugis on the East West Line , Promenade on the Circle Line and Chinatown on the North East Line . Two stations, Bayfront and Downtown, will be built to serve the DTMB area. Another station, Telok Ayer, will be built along Cross Street near the Chinatown area. During this period of time, the line was designated brown. In its preliminary plans, Stage 2 of the Downtown Line was called the Bukit Timah Line, supposedly a 20-kilometre line that would connect the new downtown with the Bukit Panjang, Upper Bukit Timah and the Bukit Timah corridor. It was to intersect the Circle Line and all other current lines along the way. It was expected to alleviate the heavy traffic along Bukit Timah, Dunearn Road and Upper Bukit Timah after completion. Provisions were made at Promenade which would have been the line's southern interchange with the Circle Line . Stage 2 of the Downtown Line will be 16.6 km long, consisting twelve stations, including three interchange stations, and is scheduled to be completed by 2016. On 15 July 2008, the LTA announced the exact location, alignment and tentative name of the twelve stations to be built. Commencement of construction for Stage 2 began on 3 July 2009 with a groundbreaking ceremony at Beauty World Station. In its preliminary plans, Stage 3 of the Downtown Line was part of the Eastern Region Line , a 40-kilometre rectangular loop that would have complemented the existing East West Line and enhance inter- and intra-town travelling in the eastern region. It would have looped around the Jalan Besar and East Coast areas, intersecting the Circle Line and other current lines along the way, benefiting residents in Tampines, Bedok, Marine Parade, MacPherson and Kaki Bukit. Stage 3 now only comprises the northern segment of the original plan, from Chinatown to Expo. Provisions were made at Chinatown, which would have been the line's western interchange with the North East Line and the Downtown Extension. The northern segment of the loop was to be constructed first, passing through Jalan Besar area and eastwards to parts of Bedok, Tampines and Expo Station to serve the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) next to Upper Changi and Singapore Expo which will move there when the new campus is completed in 2018. Being 21 km-long, the sixteen stations would have been completed by 2018. In 2008, the government decided to accelerate the sector's opening to 2016. Station locations and their working names for Stage 3 were officially announced on 20 August 2010. At the same time, the then Transport Minister, Mr Raymond Lim also announced a delay of the completion of Stage 3 by a year to 2017 to accommodate the construction of an additional station at Jalan Besar. Similar to Stage 2, preliminary work by the LTA had begun. The finalised names for the Stage 3 stations were announced on 19 August 2011. A new MRT depot, the Gali Batu Depot, is built at part of the former Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery off Woodlands Road. On 29 August 2011, the LTA appointed SBS Transit (SBS Transit DTL Pte Ltd) as the operator of the Downtown Line, subsequently changing the line colour to blue. The 30 October 2012 edition of The Straits Times reported that the final costs of building the line may reach an estimated S$20.7 billion, up more than 70% from an initial estimation of S$12 billion. On 17 January 2013, Land Transport Authority announced 'Downtown Line Extension' which will run from Expo and through East Coast area. It is to be completed by 2025. On 24 June 2013, LTA announced that work has stopped on the King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee stations, after Alpine Bau GmbH, the previous main contractor, filed for insolvency on June 19 and it will take some three to six months for new contractors to resume work on three stations on the upcoming Downtown Line Stage 2 (DTL2). On 29 August 2013, LTA announced that it has appointed McConnell Dowell South East Asia (SEA) Private Limited and SK E&C (Singapore) to complete the work on the three stations. As a result of the delay, the completion of Downtown Line Stage 2 has been pushed back from December 2015 to the middle of 2016. On 7 October 2013, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Singapore International Transport Congress and Exhibition, that Downtown Line Stage 1 will open on 22 December 2013. Stage 1 of Downtown Line opened on 22 December 2013 with its official opening made on 21 December 2013 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Marina Boulevard sinkhole incident Marina Boulevard had to be temporarily closed and traffic was diverted on the morning of June 18, 2008 after soil on a construction site next to the road sank. Urban Redevelopment Authority said the hole measured 5 metres wide and was 2.5 metres deep. It sank at about 9:10 am. This caused a hole next to the Marina Boulevard slip road leading towards East Coast Parkway. URA said the soil subsidence is located within the construction site where construction works for the common services tunnel is being carried out. No one was injured. About 25m of the rightmost two lanes on Bukit Timah Road has been closed off to traffic after a nearby drain embankment caved in on 17 January 2012 in the course of tunnelling works for the Downtown Line. LTA said that its engineers found a 14m precast segment of the Bukit Timah canal wall near the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Clementi Road dislodged, and some gaps in the ground were formed around that segment of the canal. It then stopped its tunnelling works to ensure safety and has begun to inject cement to stabilise the ground. Evans Road casualty incident On 11 March 2012, a worker was killed at a site between the Botanic Gardens and Stevens station after a concrete slab fell on him. 35-year-old Masud Al Mamun was operating an excavator deep in the ground when the slab fell on him. Rescuers had to use a breaking tool kit to break a portion of the concrete slab. It took nearly five hours to reach the man lying motionless on the ground. This is the first casualty case in the construction of the Downtown Line. Bugis casualty incident On 18 July 2012, two Chinese workers died after a temporary scaffolding, about four metres high, used for the construction of the new Downtown Line Bugis station subway link roof slab gave way. The incident happened at about 6:50 am. The eight other injured workers who were working on top of the structure, were sent to the nearby Raffles Hospital before rescuers arrived. They had minor injuries and five of them have since been discharged. Of the remaining three workers who were warded, one suffered from abdominal and chest injuries, while another suffered a back injury and the last had a finger injury. Seven of the injured are from Bangladesh while the eighth is from China. The Ministry of Manpower(MOM) has ordered all construction work to stop, while the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has revoked the construction permit for the site while investigations are underway. MOM said that based on preliminary information gathered, workers were pouring concrete, also known as the casting process, into the formwork when the structure supporting the formwork collapsed. The formwork, located between the new and old sections of the station, was part of the structure being built to form the underground linkway, which is about three to four metres deep. The area affected is localised, measuring about five metres by 10 metres and the entire station is about 7,500 square metres. The Land Transport Authority said the station structure is substantially complete and structurally sound, and that the incident posed no risk to surrounding developments and the public. On 22 August 2013, the main and sub-contractor Soletanche Bachy and Koh Brothers at the construction site were charged in court over the collapse. The two companies were said to have failed to take measures to ensure that the workplace was safe and without risks to health to every person within the premises on 18 July 2012. Woodlands Road sinkhole incident Excavation works for the Downtown Line 2 caused a massive sinkhole on Woodlands Road on 16 March 2013. The construction destabilised the soil, which ruptured an underground water pipe. The rupture which was as wide as one of the road's lanes, appeared near West View Primary School, next to where construction work for Downtown Line 2 is being carried out. Stations North South Line (NSL) NS1EW24 Jurong East NS2 Bukit Batok NS3 Bukit Gombak NS4BP1 Choa Chu Kang NS5 Yew Tee NS6 (located near Sungei Kadut) NS7 Kranji NS8 Marsiling NS9TS2 Woodlands NS10 Admiralty NS11 Sembawang NS12 (located near Simpang) NS13 Yishun NS14 Khatib NS15 Yio Chu Kang NS16 Ang Mo Kio NS17CC15 Bishan NS18 Braddell NS19 Toa Payoh NS20 Novena NS21DT11 Newton NS22TS14 Orchard NS23 Somerset NS24NE6CC1 Dhoby Ghuat NS25EW13 City Hall NS26EW14 Raffles Place NS27CE2TS20 Marina Bay NS28 Marina South Pier East West Line (EWL) EW1 Pasir Ris EW2DT32 Tampines EW3 Simei EW4 Tanah Merah EW5 Bedok EW6 Kembangan EW7 Eunos EW8CC9 Paya Lebar EW9 Aljunied EW10 Kallang EW11 Lavender EW12DT14 Bugis EW13NS25 City Hall EW14NS26 Raffles Place EW15 Tanjong Pagar EW16NE3TS17 Outram Park EW17 Tiong Bahru EW18 Redhill EW19 Queenstown EW20 Commonwealth EW21CC22 Buona Vista EW22 Dover EW23 Clementi EW24NS1 Jurong East EW25 Chinese Garden EW26 Lakeside EW27 Boon Lay EW28 Pioneer EW29 Joo Koon EW30 Gul Circle EW31 Tuas Crescent EW32 Tuas West Road EW33 Tuas Link CG1DT35 Expo CG2 Changi Airport North East Line (NEL) NE1CC29 Habourfront NE2 (located near Keppel) NE3EW16TS17 Outram Park NE4DT19 Chinatown NE5 Clarke Quay NE6NS25CC1 Dhoby Ghuat NE7DT12 Little India NE8 Farrer Park NE9 Boon Keng NE10 Potong Pasir NE11 Woodleigh NE12CC13 Serangoon NE13 Kovan NE14 Hougang NE15 Buangkok NE16STC Sengkang NE17PTC Punggol Circle Line (CCL) CC1NS25NE6 Dhoby Ghuat CC2 Bras Brasah CC3 Esplanade CC4DT15 Promenade CC5 Nicoll Highway CC6 Stadium CC7 Mountbatten CC8 Dakota CC9EW8 Paya Lebar CC10DT26 MacPherson CC11 Tai Seng CC12 Bartley CC13NE12 Serangoon CC14 Lorong Chuan CC15NS17 Bishan CC16 Marymount CC17TS9 Caldecott CC18 Bukit Brown CC19DT9 Botanic Gardens CC20 Farrer Road CC21 Holland Village CC22EW21 Buona Vista CC23 one-north CC24 Kent Ridge CC25 Haw Par Villa CC26 Pasir Panjang CC27 Labrador Park CC28 Telok Blangah CC26 Labrador Park CC29NE1 Habourfront CE1DT16 Bayfront CE2NS27TS20 Marina Bay Downtown Line (DTL) DT1BP6 Bukit Panjang DT2 Cashew DT3 Hillview DT4 (located near Hume Avenue) DT5 Beauty World DT6 King Albert Park DT7 Sixth Avenue DT8 Tan Kah Kee DT9CC19 Botanic Gardens DT10TS11 Stevens DT11NS21 Newton DT12NE7 Little India DT13 Rochor DT14EW12 Bugis DT15CC4 Promenade DT16CE1 Bayfront DT17 Downtown DT18 Telok Ayer DT19NE4 Chinatown DT20 Fort Canning DT21 Bencoolen DT22 Jalan Besar DT23 Bendemeer DT24 Geylang Bahru DT25 Mattar DT26CC10 MacPherson DT27 Ubi DT28 Kaki Bukit DT29 Bedok North DT30 Bedok Reservoir DT31 Tampines West DT32EW2 Tampines DT33 Tampines East DT34 Upper Changi DT35CG1 Expo Furure Lines (under planning) Thomson Line (TSL) TS1 Woodlands North TS2NS9 Woodlands TS3 Woodlands South TS5 Springleaf TS6 Lentor TS7 Mayflower TS8 Sin Ming TS9 Upper Thomson TS9CC17 Caldecott TS10 Mount Pleasant TS11DT10 Stevens TS12 Napier TS13 Orchard Boulevard TS14NS22 Orchard TS15 Great World TS16 Havelock TS17NE3EW16 Outram Park TS18 Maxwell TS19 Shenton Way TS20NS27CE2 Marina Bay TS21 Marina South TS22 Gardens by the Bay Eastern Region Line (ERL) (under planning) Jurong Region Line (JRL) (under planning) Cross Island Line (CRL) (under planning) Category:MRT lines Singapore